African Cats - 2 smiles

The one thing that “African Cats” has in common with the first two documentary features from Disney’s Disneynature label, 2009’s “Earth” and last year’s “Oceans,” is a stunning combination of vast images and dazzling photography. Where “African Cats” deviates is the heavy-handed narration by Samuel L. Jackson. The animals’ dramatic interactions and their consequences should speak for themselves, but Jackson’s narration constantly interrupts and attempts to build excitement and elicit emotional responses. At one point, Fang, ruler of the lion pride, roars and snarls and gets a threatening crocodile to back down. Jackson intones, ‘Today, the pride’s protector has earned his keep.’ Overly melodramatic? I felt truly manipulated by the time the movie ended.

Shot over more than two years in the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya by directors Keith Scholey and Alastair Fothergill, “African Cats” follows two families living on either side of a river. One is a pride of lions ruled by the fearsome Fang with a focus on a mother lioness, Leyla and her older cub. The other family is a cheetah mother and her five newborn cubs. Unlike lions, cheetahs live solitary lives so Sita must leave her still blind babies behind in order to hunt. Scholey and Fothergill ably convey the intimate story of felines hunting, feeding, traveling from one place to another and the vital bond shared between these mothers and children. For these African cats, the struggle to survive is ongoing and the realities of life are harsh. Although there’s certainly enough of the cute factor with the cubs, there’s also the fact that these cats are predators. After all, they have to eat, too. With its G rating, “African Cats” is definitely family fare, but some scenes might be too intense for the little ones. 4/23/11